Washington, PA — Exploiting a pocket trip, Rocknificent spoiled the sophomore debut of Dan Patch Award winner Lyons Sentinel by outkicking her and scoring in Saturday’s (July 11) $210,932 Pennsylvania Sires Stake at The Meadows. The event for 3-year-old filly pacers, known as the Adios Betty, was contested over three divisions, with Drama Act and Party Girl Hill Taking the other splits.

Rocknificent upended Dan Patch champion Lyons Sentinel on Saturday (July 11) during PASS action at The Meadows. Chris Gooden Photo.

The action-packed card featured 16 races — all stakes splits for 2- and 3-year-old filly pacers — featured a number of budding stars. But the most intriguing storyline was Lyons Sentinel’s (Tim Tetrick) season kickoff, which was delayed by COVID-19 disruptions. She looked sharp in three qualifiers, but on Saturday’s sloppy-but-drying surface, she couldn’t hold off Rocknificent (Scott Zeron), who prevailed by a length in 1:50.4. Shouldabeenatd (Yannick Gingras) completed the ticket. 

The win by Rocknificent, a Captaintreacherous daughter of Dan Patch awardee Rocklamation who banked $285.006 at 2, wasn’t much of an upset. In fact, players expected it, sending her off at 3-5 versus 3-2 odds for Lyon’s Sentinel.

“It was always going to come down to a sprint,” said winning driver Scott Zeron. “I was happy my horse was able to win and not have to do any work. She’s an extremely intelligent horse who puts herself in great positions all the time. She has a really quick turn of speed. So even chasing a great horse like that, it becomes a foot race at the end. I’m always confident that she has the quicker foot.”

Linda Toscano trains Rocknificent for Enviro Stables, South Mountain Stables and Little E LLC.

Jim, King, Jr., who condition Lyons Sentinel, was far from disappointed with her performance.

“It was her first time out, and trip beat her,” King said. “You can’t be upset with that. I don’t think there’s any shame in her game.” 

Drama Act (Aaron Merriman) took to the track when it was at its sloppiest, and she relished the off going, powering to a front-end victory in 1:50.4 with a back half in :54.3. Alexis’s Beach (Tim Tetrick) finished second, beaten 2-1/2 lengths, with Blazin Grace (David Miller) third.

“She paced the back half in :52.3 last week at Hoosier, so we know she’s got it in her,” said Krista Harmon, who conditions the daughter of Well Said-Lounge Act for The Ok Corral. “As long we stay healthy and sound, I think we’ll be there at the end of the year. You look at her and you don’t see a 1:50 mile coming out of this little butterball, but it’s in there.” 

$190,283 PASS — 2-Year-Old Filly Pacers

Saturday’s program also featured the Sand Tart, a PASS for freshman filly pacers, with the splits going to Grace Hill (Always B Miki-Western Silk), Continualou (Sweet Lou-Continual Velocity) and Let ’Er Buck (Betting Line-Wild West Show). 

Grace Hill (Dexter Dunn) got to perform after the track’s upgrade to fast, and the daughter of Always B Miki-Western Silk took full advantage, roaring to the point with a quarter-pole move for Dunn and winning her second straight PASS split, this one in 1:52.4. Dancethenightaway (Miller) was second, 2-3/4 lengths back, while Marsala Hanover (Zeron) earned show.

“She has a long stride and does her work pretty easy,” Dunn said. “She went in 1:52 today and felt like she was doing it pretty easy. She has a good future.”

Nifty Norman conditions Grace Hill for Tom Hill.

Continualou (Chris Page) was sitting second near the three-quarters when Chris Page confidently pulled the pocket with her. The daughter of Sweet Lou-Continual Velocity cruised by, breaking her maiden in 1:54.2. When Uptown Hanover (Matt Kakaley) and Ocean’s Apart (Gingras) rounded out the ticket, it gave trainer Ron Burke a 1-2-3 sweep of this split.

“I realize how old I’m getting when I’m starting to drive the moms of these things, ”Page said. “I drove her mom — had like three lungs — and I think she passed that on to her baby. She felt pretty good and I thought, well, we’ll give her a shot. The sky’s the limit for her.”

$100,000 PA Stallion Series — 3-Year-Old Filly Pacers

The Bethinator (Dave Palone) notched the fastest victory, winning in 1:51.3 for trainer Brett Pelling, while Enduring Hope (Tetrick) provided the tote board fireworks, upsetting at 26-1 for conditioner Tom Fanning. Also victorious were Ashtini (Corey Callahan), Girl On The Beach (Dan Charlino) and Alexa Skye (Palone).

$100,000 PA Stallion Series — 2-Year-Old Filly Pacers

Lady Newton (Sweet Lou-I’m Sassy) and Fighting Evil (Sweet Lou-Evil Fight) each scored in 1:54 to share stake honors. Blonde Onthe Beach (Somebeachsomewhere-Double Jeopardy), Darby Hanover (Betting Line-Darena Hanover) and Podium Girl (Somebeachsomewhere-Cinamony) took the other divisions.

Live racing at The Meadows resumes Monday (June 13), when the 15-race card features a $5,000 total-pool guarantee for the Early Pick 4 (race 3) and a $2,713.47 carryover in the final-race Super Hi-5. First post is 12:45 p.m.